The Iranian gas industry will require massive investments to meet European and global demand, Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center and Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Ariel Cohen said in his report obtained by Trend.

“Only 160 billion cubic meters of gas are produced annually [in Iran], due to technological and financial constraints caused by domestic mismanagement, a lack of expertise, and the Western sanctions that now appear to be lifted… Currently, Iran supplies less than 1 percent of global natural gas exports,” Cohen said.

Meanwhile Cohen, who also the Director of the Center for Energy, Natural Resources, and Geopolitics at the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and founding principal of International Market Analysis believes that Iran’s natural gas deposits, which hit approximately 34 trillion cubic meters in early 2015, according BP’s statistics review, could contribute to European energy security, given the recent shift in relations between Iran and the EU.

He noted that the existing Iran-Turkey pipeline, with its 14 billion cubic meters per year capacity would be the first line of supply of Iranian gas to Europe, capable of providing up to 7 billion cubic meters per year.

This could begin to happen in two to three years, Cohen believes. Beyond that, there are plans to build a Persian Pipeline with a capacity of up to 40 billion cubic meters per year to transfer Iranian gas to Europe, he said.

Cohen also noted that building LNG export terminals would be an enormous prize for ensuring Iranian gas supplies to Europe, and one that the Iranian leadership is likely to reach for in the years to come.